In a sharp editorial for The Boston Globe, LISC Rhode Island senior executive director Jeanne Cola celebrates a $120M housing bond that will go before voters this fall, but warns that the figure is not nearly enough to close the state’s enormous affordability gap. Citing a range of creative solutions, Cola argues that only an all-hands-on-deck approach, with corporate citizens, non-profits and all levels of government collaborating, can make good housing for all a reality.
The excerpt below was orinally published by The Boston Globe
Rhode Island can't solve the housing crisis without everyone's help
Housing advocates are celebrating the $120 million housing bond included in the budget recently passed in the Rhode Island General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Dan McKee. Voters will weigh in on the measure on the November ballot.
The amount is nearly double the previous housing bond affirmed by voters in 2021, and underscores the crisis faced by Rhode Islanders to find housing, as well as its downward pressure on the state economy. Housing is clearly at the intersection of so much that makes life successful: health, education, workforce, community, child care. We’re grateful that state leaders have made housing a priority.
But it is still nowhere near enough.
The total needed is dramatically more — billions of dollars more. Housing is a national crisis, made worse in Rhode Island due to our history of underinvestment, the age of our housing stock, and the relative stagnation of wages. To add some perspective, Massachusetts just announced a $6.2 billion housing bond for its 7 million residents.
The bond in Rhode Island will help maintain some momentum, but this is an all-hands-on-deck moment for our state. It’s time for all R.I. corporations and nonprofits to participate in the solutions. For example, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island awarded the Local Initiatives Support Corporation a $4 million grant to address housing production, just one of the grants the insurer invested in the housing sector.
The investment has made a huge difference. The BCBS RI grant provided pre-development funding — nearly double our standard investment — to the new Crossroads Summer Street building. That project will replace the “the tower” — the agency’s older, single-room occupancy building on Broad Street — with 176 apartments reserved for residents earning at or below 30 percent of the area median income. The Summer Street building will offer permanent supportive housing to individuals who are at-risk of or transitioning away from homelessness. Because we were able to invest more, we also were able to leverage additional resources, which meant LISC could provide nearly $38 million in equity for the project. This investment in Crossroads, as well as others in the pipeline, has meant that Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island grant enabled us to ramp up the leverage of federal funds and national resources and invest — or commit to invest — nearly $120 million in the past 18 months.
More corporate citizens need to follow suit. If good health is your mission, health starts with housing. If you’re concerned about educational excellence, then good grades start with safe and affordable housing. If a stable workforce is important, consider where your employees will sleep at night. We can’t solve this crisis without everyone’s help.
About The Author
Jeanne Cola, Senior Executive Director, LISC Rhode Island
Jeanne Cola serves as Senior Executive Director of the Rhode Island office of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a position that she has held since 2011 when she moved to that role from Board Chair and President of LISC's Local Advisory Committee. Cola brings nearly 30 years of experience in housing and community development to her work at LISC Rhode Island.